The Story of My Days. Family Lifestyle Blog Based in Northern Ireland.

Tag Archives: healthy

Summer is fast approaching, and as always I am having the eternal battle of trying to eat a healthier diet. It doesn’t come easily to me. There are many days that I quite simply fail at it. I am not a huge believer in diets, I do believe that trying to make healthier choices is a realistic way forward, for me. And although I don’t attend slimming world, I find many of their recipes and ideas sensible and logical. With that in mind, here are 5 kitchen gadgets I’m loving right now.

Like this:

When I was rummaging through my fridge wondering what to make for dinner, I hadn’t intended to produce anything worth sharing on here. However, Mr C said this baked haddock with paprika new potatoes was delicious, and since it is slimming world friendly, I thought some of my readers might like it.

I devised this low fat garlic and leek macaroni recipe after seeing a similar recipe on the slimming world website. Their version uses mustard and some other ingredients I didn’t want to use, so I came up with this. It is all part of a current effort to cut back on the calories. Of course this dish doesn’t taste much like my traditional macaroni cheese recipe, but it is still tasty and filling, and much healthier!

I do a lot of experimenting in the kitchen. It doesn’t always go to plan, but one of the ways I am inspired is by pre-packed meals. For example, I came up with this roasted vegetable and tuna pasta recipe after buying a ready made version. And I thought – I can do better than that! In fact, it was so oily pretty much any thing would have been better than the ready made one!

I wanted a cold pasta dish that would be easy to prepare, and convient for lunch time – I am trying to cut back on bread, and come up with healthier options of foods I know my family like!

So I had a little a little rummage in the fridge to see what I could use, and this is what I came up with:

Roasted Vegetable and Tuna Pasta Recipe:

Servings 3 – 4

Ingredients:

1 x courgette

1 x white onion

1 x yellow pepper

1 x orange pepper

1 x tablespoon olive oil

1 x tin tuna (in brine or spring water) (drained)

200 grams pasta shapes

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees centigrade.

Roughly chop the courgette, onion and peppers and add to an ovenproof dish.

Add the olive oil to the vegetables and give them a stir to ensure all the pieces are coated.

Roast the vegetables in the oven for 30 minutes. Give them a stir after 10, and 20 minutes to ensure they cook evenly.

While the vegetables are roasting, cook your 200g of pasta shapes according to the packet instructions. When it is ready, Drain out the excess water.

After your vegetables and pasta have cooled, put them in an airtight tub, and mix through the tin of tuna. Store in the fridge.

And that’s it! Simple!

This roasted vegetable and tuna pasta recipe will last in the fridge for two to three days – providing you don’t eat it all of course.

The verdict – I liked it. It wasn’t oily, and as it had been chilled the flavours had really blended well together. Mr C ate it but thought it could of been improved by a large dollop of mayonnaise – I think he is perhaps forgetting the fact that the aim was to make a healthy version!

I will definitely be making this again, especially since I could easily substitute the vegetables for those I have available.